'AITA for telling my teacher how to grade because they're clearly bad at their job?'
"AITA for telling my teacher she can't deduct marks over putting citations in my work?"
kanedle writes:
I (17F) am currently taking summer school for 12th grade physics. Recently, we were asked to create an infographic as a group on a topic from the Waves and Light unit. My two group members (both 17F) and I chose to do ours on heat mirages.
After spending hours on the assignment, we decided to include our citations on a page below the infographic. This was not something the assignment specifically asked for, but we wanted to be academically honest and list our sources anyway.
This morning, we received our grades. We were given a level 3, which is in the 70s range. As students who usually achieve high marks, we were shocked. What made it more confusing was the comment included with the grade. It said that our work met the standard of a level 4, but the mark was lowered. The reason?
“Citations were not asked for this assignment. I will take off one mark under individual work. 3/4.” That was the only feedback we received. Our grade was not lowered because of the quality or accuracy of our work. It was lowered because we added citations.
We decided to talk to the teacher right away. We were confused and frustrated that we had lost around 15 percent of our grade for something that was supposed to show integrity, not hurt us.
When we approached her, she was rude and condescending. She told us, “You should read the instructions next time. Actions have consequences, and you shall receive consequences for not following instructions accordingly.” I tried to explain our reasoning, but she got angry and ended the conversation before my other group members even had a chance to speak.
We are all really upset about this. It feels unfair to lose that many marks for simply including our sources. If she truly believed we had not followed instructions, then she could have given us a 4 minus or something similar.
Dropping us to a level 3 felt excessive, especially considering that this is a 12th grade course and my physics grade matters for university applications. This could have a serious impact on not only my future, but my group members’ futures as well. AITA?
OP responded to some comments.
Scenarioing writes:
Unless the instructions said not to include citations, the teacher is full of s^#t.
OP responded:
Nothing about whether we should or shouldn't add citations was mentioned in any part of the criteria. My group still took the safe route and added them. It's only right not to plagiarize, right?
Puskarella says:
NTA Adding citations is the default expectation in most assignments. Is there someone else you can talk to, or a process for challenging grades at your institution? Also, losing 1 mark out of 4 is 25% not 15%.
OP responded:
For our curriculum here, it's not really 3/4, rather a 'level 3', which ranges from 70-79%. I should have clarified that better. The percentages I'm using in the post are the anchor marks for each level. I'm not a big fan of the level system at all though. Level 4 ranges from 80-100%, and I find that to be a bit too much of a spread.